The One Greek Letter Jesus Used for Himself That Changes Everything

One Greek phrase. Two words. Four syllables. And when Jesus said them in the Temple courts, the crowd reached for stones. In this video we trace Ego eimi, the Greek phrase Jesus used for Himself, all the way back to its origin: the burning bush, the barefoot shepherd, and the name God called Himself in Exodus 3:14. We look at why the Jewish scholars who translated the Hebrew scriptures into Greek in 250 BC chose those exact two words for the divine name, and what happened when Jesus began using them about Himself, seven times in the Gospel of John, then without any image attached, then under oath before the high priest with His life on the line. Josephus recorded that this name was so sacred priests were forbidden to say it outside the Temple. Jesus said it in public. Repeatedly. And then there is Thomas, the man who refused to believe for eight days, who finally looked at the risen Jesus and said four words that no correction followed: my Lord and my God. The people standing in front of Jesus had no confusion about what He was claiming. The question He left them with is the same one He leaves you with now. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 — The crowd already reaching for stones 01:20 — Moses, the barefoot shepherd, and the burning bush 03:40 — The name God used for Himself 05:10 — The scholars who translated the untranslatable 07:00 — Seven times Jesus said I AM with an image 10:30 — The moment the image disappears 13:00 — Before Abraham was 15:20 — The soldiers who fell in the garden 17:40 — The courtroom and the torn robe 20:10 — Thomas and the eight days of doubt 22:30 — Three things worth carrying with you Did Jesus claim to be God? What does I AM mean in the Bible? What is Ego eimi in Greek, and why did Jesus use it? Why did the crowd want to stone Jesus in John 8? These are questions that sit at the center of the entire Gospel of John, and the answers go back further than most people expect, all the way to a burning bush in the Midian wilderness and a name that Jewish priests were forbidden to pronounce. REFERENCES The divine name and its prohibition — Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 2, Chapter 12, Section 4 The Hebrew original — Exodus 3:14 (Hebrew Bible, Masoretic Text) The Greek translation — Septuagint (LXX), Exodus 3:14, translated c. 250 BC, Alexandria The blasphemy law — Leviticus 24:16 The seven I AM statements — John 6:35, John 8:12, John 10:11, John 11:25, John 14:6, John 15:1, John 15:5 The stones — John 8:58-59 The garden — John 18:5-6 The trial — Mark 14:61-64 The declaration of Thomas — John 20:28 #BibleExplained #JesusChrist #Christianity